Secrecy protects doctors with long histories of problems

Buried deep in a federal database is Practitioner No. 222117, perhaps the most frequently disciplined doctor in America.

This doctor has been accused of violating drug laws, prescribing unauthorized medications, providing substandard care and obtaining licenses through fraud.

From 2002 through 2006, 20 states and the District of Columbia revoked or suspended No. 222117’s medical licenses. Two professional societies took away the doctor’s memberships. The Department of Health and Human Services banned the doctor from billing Medicare and Medicaid. And the Drug Enforcement Administration revoked the doctor’s permit to prescribe controlled drugs. For most of these years, the doctor’s home base was Missouri.

But who is this doctor? And is he or she still practicing? We don’t know. The federal government won’t say. And it won’t even let reporters or anyone else investigate to find out.  Read more…